


The Story of Tonight

by orphan_account



Category: The Dover Boys
Genre: Enemies to Lovers, Fluff, M/M, wtf is this ship and why did i write this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-30
Updated: 2016-05-30
Packaged: 2018-07-11 05:57:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7031833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What do you do when the person you hate most in the world is drunk off his ass? You get drunk too.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Story of Tonight

**Author's Note:**

> I can't believe I actually wrote a gay fanfiction about a cartoon short from the 1940s. Here's to my friend Poppy. Thanks for sucking me into the odd place in hell to a point where half the headcanons here are yours. You fucker.   
> Anyways, here's wonderwall

The door swung open with Tom’s arrival, sending dust flying in and out of the saloon. Tom grinned cheerily at the bartender, who only glared in reply. Tom shrugged. He didn’t expect much other than hostility from the regulars here. Especially towards him. Tom’s straight-laced boy shone too whitely for the liking of most people outside of Pimento University. He asked for a whiskey at the bar, and settled into a bar stool. 

The whiskey was smokey with age. Tom sipped it, careful not to tip the whole glass back. He wasn’t sure why he decided to come down to the saloon in his downtime. He just had the sudden urge to get some alcohol in him. Without Dick and Larry. If he was sure of anything, it was that he needed some space from his brothers. They did everything together and Tom wanted a chance to enjoy himself with company that was not related to him. 

Tom stared at nothing in particular as he drained his glass. He had thoroughly zoned out when someone sat next to him, bumping his shoulder. He was knocked back into reality as he looked at who it was. Green skin and well groomed black hair met him. Tom jumped up. 

“Dan Backslide!” he yelled. Dan looked surprised, but angered just as quickly.

“Tom Dover!”

“Dan Backslide!”

“Yes, that is my name!”

“Dan Backslide!”

“Christ, Dover, what?” 

Tom slowly sat back down on his stool. “Sorry, I don’t know. I was surprised. Why are you here?”

Dan snorted. “A better question is why are _you_ here. This is my bar, my saloon, my hole to crawl to. What’s your pristine PU ass doing here?” 

“I, uh, needed a drink.”

“Likely story. I’m too tired to pick a fight with you, College Boy. So just try not to cause a scene.” They both turned back to the bartender and ordered a whiskey. They glared at each other as they took their drinks and knocked them back. Tom vaguely remembered how he didn’t want to get drunk too quickly when he first walked in, but if Dan Backslide was going to challenge him then he wasn’t going to back down.

Dan watched as Tom ordered his third glass of whiskey. He frowned and ordered a pint of beer. Tom figured he really didn’t want to have the same drink. The bartender handed Dan a jug, and Dan took it in his right hand. Tom grinned wickedly. 

“Bullmoose!” he yelled at Dan. The bartender raised his eyebrows, evidently curious as to what Dan would do. 

“What are you going on about?” Dan asked. 

“Bullmoose. You took the beer in your right hand, so I called bullmoose. Now you have to chug the whole pint,” Tom explained. Dan rolled his eyes.

“Alright, College Boy, if you insist.” Dan glared and tipped the jug back. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he dutifully chugged his drink. Tom grinned. He couldn’t believe Dan was actually doing it.  
The empty pint was slammed back on the table. Dan looked back at Tom, triumphant smile on his face before he quickly broke apart. Tears were streaming down his face as he sobbed. Tom didn’t know what to do. He looked back at the bartender, who just shrugged and went on polishing a glass. Dan was crying into his arms on the bar. Tom could only stare. He signalled for another whiskey. He drained it just as fast as the last one and asked for another. All he could think to do was get as drunk as Dan. Only drunk people are able to relate to each other, so Tom was going to get wasted to help Dan. 

Never in his life did Tom Dover think he would be trying to aid Dan Backslide, especially not getting drunk to help him. Yet here he was, sucking down hard liquor to get himself into a state that was possibly better equipped to help Dan than he was in his current state. By his fifth glass, Tom felt his fingers tingle and began to relax. He was getting drunk, and he was starting to relax. He went back to slowly sipping his whiskey instead of chugging it. 

Dan was still crying. Tom simply reached out and patted him on the back. Dan turned and began crying into Tom’s chest. Tom smiled softly and wrapped one arm around the snivelling green man. “What’s up, Dan?” he asked. 

Dan only cried harder. He didn’t seem capable of forming words. Tom didn’t mind. He continued to hold Dan as he cried himself dry. Tom finished his drink and payed for both himself and Dan. Dan was whimpering, tears no longer forming a waterfall over his face. Tom picked Dan up and cradled him in his arms, carrying him out of the bar.

“What are you doing?” Dan whined, speaking for the first time since he started crying. 

“Don’t want you to hurt yourself,” Tom replied nonchalantly. “We’ll just go back to my place.” 

“Won’t Dick and Larry be upset about that?” Dan asked quietly, sulking moodily. Tom shrugged. 

“I guess. I can deal with them. Don’t worry about it.”

The walk to the Dover house wasn’t too far out of town, but Tom was a bit intoxicated and was carrying another guy in his arms. He made it to the outskirts of town and took a break. His house was only another few minutes away, but Tom needed to sit down and give his arms a rest. He settled Dan in his lap and he sat on the sidewalk on the edge of town. Dan tried to frown and be upset, but his crying had exhausted him. He leaned onto Tom’s chest and closed his eyes. Tom was growing tired as well and let his head drop onto Dan’s shoulder. 

“Dan Backslide,” he murmured. 

“Tom Dover,” Dan replied. 

“Dan Backslide.”

“Let’s not do this again.”

“Dan Backslide.”

“Christ, College Boy, what do you want?”

Without thinking, Tom planted a kiss on the shoulder his head was on. He felt Dan stiffen. A part of Tom’s brain was telling him that Dan was his archenemy and that he was supposed to hate him but Tom had just seen Dan cry until he had no tears left to give and had gotten drunk just so that he could help Dan better so Tom was ignoring that part of his brain. He kissed Dan’s shoulder again. Dan rolled out of his lap and laid on the sidewalk. 

“What are you doing, Dover?” he asked.

“Don’t know. Can I kiss you for real now?”

Dan sat up and glared at Tom. Tom offered a soft smile. Dan rolled his eyes and scooted closer to him. 

“I suppose. Don’t tell your brothers.”

“Why would I do that?” Tom asked as he kissed Dan’s cheek. Dan flushed and Tom moved towards his mouth. 

Dan practically melted against Tom when they kissed. Tom had to support him to make sure he didn’t fall back onto the sidewalk. The kiss was good, great, better than what Tom thought he was getting himself into when he proposed the question. This wasn’t a heated, sloppy kiss. It was slow, sweet, savory. It was a stolen kiss in the dark for everyone to see. Tom had a hand on the back of Dan’s neck and Dan was leaning up into him. The kiss was gentle, kind, meant to be treasured and adored and be adoring. Tom was in deep in one second. 

They broke apart to breathe, to make sure they were still alive after their hearts stopped for the duration of the kiss. Tom looked at Dan, still unbelieving that he had kissed the man that had been trying to sabotage him and his brothers for years, and that he wanted to kiss him again. Dan looked just as shocked. 

Swallowing, Tom asked, “Dick and Larry might get upset if they see you at home. Can we stay the night at your place?” Dan nodded quickly and pulled Tom down into another kiss. 

Tom needed to rethink this whole “archenemy” thing.


End file.
